Draynes Farm frozen products have gone on sale  in the Republic of Ireland for the first time after the company availed of an InterTradeIreland grant that supports cross-border trade.

The ‘field to fridge’ ice cream producer, based in Lisburn, originally began delivering milk by horse and cart in 1932.

In 2015 Draynes Farm began making ice creams and sorbets from milk produced on the 200 acre dairy farm.

The products became popular with local retailers, and picked up a number of awards for their quality and taste, and the company explored expanding distribution south of the border.

Following a qualifying process, InterTradeIreland awarded Draynes Farm a grant to fund 50% of the services of a ROI sales company, which led to Draynes Farm teaming up with Salesplus.

A number of distributors, with expertise in frozen goods, have now taken on the Draynes Farm ice cream range, which includes flavours such as Biscoff, Honeycomb & Chocolate, and Milk.

Amongst the new distributors are Gortrush Food services, which specialises in selling ice cream in the UK and Ireland, and Tempka Foods, which distributes the products in Leinster.

Owen Drayne commented: “We’re looking forward to seeing how our products are received and hope off the back of this we can expand our distribution to other provinces with future partners.”